LOT 709

From a deceased's estate, the Ex- Jeremy Thorpe 1966 Humber Imperial Saloon Project Registration no. FAF 350D Chassis no. B884400465BWHSO

Sold for £1,265 inc. premiumLot to be sold without reserve

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Lot 709

1966 Humber Imperial Saloon Project
Registration no. FAF 350D Chassis no. B884400465BWHSO

The Beaulieu Sale: Collectors' Motor Cars & Motorcycles and Automobilia|7 September 2019, 16:00 BST|Beaulieu, National Motor Museum

From a deceased's estate, the Ex- Jeremy Thorpe
1966 Humber Imperial Saloon Project
Registration no. FAF 350D
Chassis no. B884400465BWHSO

Footnotes

Ultimate version of the Super Snipe, the Imperial boasted a superior equipment level and Borg-Warner automatic transmission as standard. This example of Humber's stylish luxury saloon formerly belonged to the controversial politician, the Rt Hon Jeremy Thorpe MP, member of parliament for the constituency of North Devon and leader of the Liberal Party between 1967 to 1976. Thorpe had been given the Humber by his predecessor as Liberal Party leader, the Rt Hon Jo Grimond MP. Thorpe's trial for the attempted murder of his lover, Norman Scott, and subsequent fall from grace was dramatised in BBC TV's 2018 drama series, A Very English Scandal, starring Hugh Grant as Jeremy Thorpe. On the occasion of Thorpe's funeral in 2014, the then North Devon MP Nick Harvey recalled: "He had a style all of his own. Brown trilby hat, waistcoat and gold watch chain, and driving around in a legendary big black Humber, still in a barn not far from Barnstaple" (press cutting on file).

Jeremy Thorpe gave the Humber to the vendor's late father, a friend of the Thorpe family, around the mid-1980s, since when it has been barn stored with a seized engine. Offered for restoration and sold strictly as viewed, the car comes with old-style V5 documents recording Jeremy Thorpe as the previous owner.

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